Tour Tweets of the Week: Sagan out, Kittel in, Cav out, EBH in

So much going on, so much controversy this week in the Tour de France: World champion shown the door and a sprint comes down to 6mm … so we’ve got a special Saturday edition of Tour Tweeeeeeets of the Weeeeeeeek. We have Peter Sagan, Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, Andre Greipel, EBH, and soooooo much more

He’s gone, we gotta learn how to face it

We know the basic facts: bunch sprint going nuts, Demare all over the road, Sagan powering on his wheel, Cav trying to get the gap between Sagan and the barricades, Cav goes down and somewhere within all that, Sagan‘s elbow went out.

The aftermatch: it all hits the fan. Sagan gets the boot to the astonishment (and disappointment) of just about everyone, Cav suffers injuries that mean he can’t continue the Tour, much to the astonishment (and disappointment) of just about everyone and Arnaud Demare doesn’t get so much as a cross-eyed look from the jury about his sprint zig-zag line, much to the astonishment (and disappointment) of just about everyone.

Let me just say this now: like the sprint itself, this section is kind of all over the place … just bear with it.

Andre Greipel had spoken out against Sagan after the stage, in a way that was quite unlike Andre. However, as always, he had the integrity to admit when he was wrong and apologise. This makes me respect him just that much more (and my respect for him was pretty much sky high before this event …). #ClassAct

Sometimes I should watch images before I say something. Apologies to @petosagan as I think that decision of the judge is too hard.

Every millimetre counts

Another sprinting incident, this time no one crashed out or gone thrown off the Tour, but it was a finish that polarised Twitter. (To be fair, everything polarises Twitter.) It was the closest finish ever in the history of the WORLD (slight exaggeration) and a lot people were very unhappy with the decision. Commence wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Kittel‘s tweet got a lot of nasty replies, which I will paraphrase: How dare you say you won! Where is your humility?! Say it was a dead heat! Say EBH won! Show us the pictures – we don’t believe you won! What are you afraid of – if you drown, it means you’re not a witch!

So: there was only 6mm in it, the Tour has pretty sophisticated equipment and a Twitter picture is just that. As for Marcel’s tweet, he acknowledged how close it was, he paid tribute to EBH, how is this gloating?

It’s the bunch sprint finishes when they have to run the gauntlet of arms attached to iPhones out over the barricades – they’re going like bats out of hell and they must get bruises in the shape of iPhones. Smartphones have definitely screwed up people’s spatial awareness – and ability to pay attention and consider the real world instead of a screen. Use your own eyes, people! Experience the stage, don’t try to record it! And keep your arms inside the barricades!